Yesterday and today. - Just a quick note:
Landing short got me 25th for the day.
Only 12 pilots in goal.
Today we have a 132km diamond shape to fly to the south west that will take us on a tour of the larger mountains in the area. Lift is supposed to be a bit stronger and the wind is supposed to be a bit lighter. It should be a BIG day today.

[Scott Gravelle]

Dressed like an Italian Hang glider pilot - [Scott Gravelle]

See here for details - http://goflyxc.com/2008/cdnhgnats

I like the idea of going down to Lakeview and piggybacking on the US nats. More pilots, new site, great organizers, enough room in the comp and on launch. I want feedback ASAP as to pursue this idea or not.

Scott

Hanging here in Texas feels like what it would be like to be at the Grammy's. This place is full of Rock stars! Gerolf, Jonny, Attila, Craig, Seppi, Andre, Nene, Brunno and of course our local Rock star Brett. The flying is intense and the pilots are all so good. I had to glide at 80-90 km to keep up and even at that I got dropped 1/2 way out. Back home 120 km takes 3-4 hrs, but when there are this many good pilots screaming across the skies it happens in less than 2 hours. The big eye opener was that the conditions weren't really any better than what we have back home, 500-700 ft/min with base at 8000 agl.

5 Canadian pilots are going to the pre-wold comp in Big Spring Texas starting on Aug 6.
We are all flying down with our gliders a couple of days early to get used to the heat and get ready for the largest comp I have ever been to.
Brett Hazlett, Bernard Winkelmann, Jim Scoles,Mark Dowsett and myself Scott Gravelle are going with the support of Jim's wife Natasha driving retrieve for which we are all very grateful.
Look for results here as well as our blogs here on Mark's site.

After discussing it with Mark a great deal we feel there are too many issues with a comp in Golden.

-1 week to get Transport, HPAC as well and all of the local resources in place for a comp is next to impossible. I had 6 months with Vulcan and couldn't get it done.

- The middle of June might work on the prairie but Mark, Brett and myself have a great deal of reservations with a comp in Golden at this time of year. It is at least a month early for reasonable conditions at this site.

-I would like to provide an opportunity for all of the pilots that have taken the week off to fly in a comp but I can't do a comp in Golden the justice it deserves.

Yesterday at 1:00 PM I got word from Transport Canada that all of the US tugs and their pilots will not be allowed to fly in Canada. I am extremely disappointed and frustrated with this decision as I have been working with Transport Canada and Nav Can on this event since December of last year. A proposal was made to move the competition just over the border to Montana but the US tug pilots have now decided to back out and will not be coming. I would like to apologize too all involved as the organizer of this event for this late cancelation. I was very much looking forward to hosting this event and am deeply saddened that it has to end like this after working so long and hard on it.